Introduction #
Swahili has the following major tenses: past, present, future, past perfect, and habitual tense. Each of these tenses has a marker that is attached to the verb. With the exception of the habitual tense marker all the other markers are attached after the subject/personal pronoun marker. Thus, the Swahili verbal structure will look as follows for now.
Subject Marker (SM) + Tense Marker (TM) + Verb (V)
The different markers that are used for different tense markers are as follows.
Past tense = -li-
Present tense = -na-
Future tense = -ta-
Past perfect = -me-
Habitual tense = hu-
Mimi nilisoma
Wewe unasoma
Yeye atasoma
Sisi tumesoma
Nyinyi husoma
Zoezi I: Swahili Personal Pronouns
Fill the table given below of Swahili pronouns and their markers
Person Singular Marker Plural Marker 1st 2nd 3rd
Zoezi II: Swahili Tenses and Daily Activities
Fill the table given below of Swahili tenses and daily activities by attaching the personal pronoun markers and tense markers to the verb given in each row.
Person Past (-li-) Present (-na-) Future (-ta-) Habitual (hu-) Past Perfect (-me-) Mimi ___amka Sisi ___oga Wewe ___nawa Nyinyi ___sugua meno Yeye ___kula kiamsha kinywa Wao ___enda chuoni
Zoezi III: Talking about Daily Activities Using Different Tenses
Je, kawaida wewe hufanya nini kabla ya darasa?
Je, utafanya nini baada ya darasa?
Je, ulifanya nini jana jioni?
Je, utafanya nini leo jioni?
Je, ulifanya nini wikendi jana?
Je, utafanya nini wikendi hii?